4 months ago i went on a gigantic dirt road/off road trail. close to the end the bike died all of a sudden. we tried to start it but the pull cord felt stuck so we put it on a trailer and its been in a garage until now. A week ago we took the covers off found out the timing was way out which we fixed with a manual. It turns over nicely now, feels like it has good compression and makes a little pop sound every so often. today while trying to start it, it backfired LOUDLY but still wouldn't start. I'm thinking of taking the carb off and cleaning it but i don't have that much experience. Any ideas please?

 

So far I have:
Cleaned the carb.
Tried a different carb.
Checked spark.
Tried a different spark plug.
Gained blisters from pull start.

 

The timing is fixed on all modern quads so if you "found out the timing was way out" this indicates something seriously wrong with the engine. As it now backfires, this would indicate the timing is still wrong. My guess would be that the valve timing was OK but the flywheel came loose and put ignition timing out. The timing marks on the flywheel would not then be at TDC so, if you timed the valves to the TDC mark, you now have both ignition and valves out.

 

If it suddenly died on you and the engine couldn't be turned over with the rope starter,then sounds like it may have had a piston ring seizure. I've had seizures happen to people like this,later on they could operate the pull start after it sat awhile and cooled down,but they still couldn't start the machine back up. I'd check the valve clearance and do a compression test even if it feels like it has good compression.

 

its from around 1997 i think. I don't think that's modern.
I have ordered a compression tester and will check valve clearance tomorrow.

 

1984 Honda 3 wheelers are the newest bike with adjustable ignition timing I have seen, valve timing never alters, so you have a serious problem in the engine if either is out.